Great Lakes: IRIN Weekly Round-up, 9/1/97

U N I T E D N A T I O N S

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for the Great Lakes

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[The weekly roundup is based on IRIN daily updates and
other relevant information from UN agencies, NGOs,
governments, donors and the media. IRIN issues these
reports for the benefit of the humanitarian community,
but accepts no responsibility as to the accuracy of
the original sources.]

IRIN Weekly Roundup 19-97 of Main Events in the Great
Lakes region, covering the period 26 August to 1 September
1997

[Please note today's daily update is incorporated in
this report]

BURUNDI - Tanzania calls new regional summit
on Burundi Tanzania has called a regional
summit for September 3 in Dar es Salaam in a fresh
attempt to end the crisis in Burundi following the
collapse of all-party peace talks last week and a heightening
of tensions along the border with its central African
neighbour. Reuters and AFP reported senior Tanzanian
government officials as saying on Saturday that President
Benjamin Mkapa had sent out invitations to the leaders
of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (former Zaire). Mkapa chairs
the regional grouping of states which imposed sanctions
on Burundi last July following the coup that brought
Pierre Buyoya to power.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Simon Ileta told AFP invitations
had also been sent to Organisation of African Unity
(OAU) Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim, Mohamed
Sahnoun, joint OAU/UN Special Representative to the
Great Lakes region, and representatives from the European
Union, Belgium, South Africa and the United States.
Last week, peace talks led by former Tanzanian president
Julius Nyerere in Arusha, northern Tanzania, collapsed
after the Burundi government refused to attend and
attacked Nyerere for an alleged lack of even-handedness.
Burundi Foreign Minister Luk Rukingama told Radio Burundi
Nyerere had demonstrated "openly that he has chosen
sides". Nyerere infuriated Bujumbura by backing
a decision by regional foreign ministers to maintain
sanctions against Buyoya's government for failing to
implement pro-democracy conditions. The collapse of
the peace process coincided with mounting tension between
the two countries and unconfirmed media reports of
stepped up military activities in the border region.
Burundi accused Tanzania of harbouring Hutu rebels
while Dar es Salaam countered Bujumbura was drawing
up plans for cross-border military strikes on refugee
camps. Nyerere, who received the full backing of
the OAU, offered to stand aside if it would help the
peace process, but told Tanzanian radio his place would
have to be taken by regional countries and the international
community. Regional analysts say it is not clear what,
if any, his role in the new talks would be. Mkapa's
new diplomatic initiative came at the same time as
the arrival in the region of U.S. special envoy Howard
Wolpe who held talks in Bujumbura on Saturday aimed
at trying to relaunch the peace process. Meanwhile
in other attempts to calm the situation, Tanzanian
Vice-President Dr Omar Ali Juma told a large rally
in Morogoro the country would not "foolishly go
to war, especially in resolving Burundi's crisis",
according to Radio Tanzania. The radio also said that
Mkapa had ordered a round-up of Burundian and Congolese
refugees living outside designated camps. Mkapa was
reported as blaming the refugees for banditry in the
area and said the round-up would help repatriation
efforts.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs
Yasushi Akashi visited both displaced and regroupment
camps in Burundi last week. In talks with Buyoya and
other high-ranking officials, Akashi -- the highest
ranking UN official to visit the country since the
coup -- received fresh assurances of the government's
commitment to a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

A UN humanitarian report said that in a joint mission
to Bubanza on August 18, WFP, CRS and UNHCR found that
several expanded sites had been created around the
town. It said five sites within 12 kilometres of the
town housed approximately 15,2000 newly-displaced people,
as compared to only two -- Mugongo 111 and Ciya --
with a combined population of only 13,000 which had
existed a week earlier.

DRC - Protests against UN enquiry

About 5,000 people took to the streets of Kinshasa on
Saturday to protest the UN Secretary-General's enquiry
into alleged massacres of Rwandan refugees in the east
of the country, AFP reported. The demonstrators accused
the mission and its president -- Togo's Koffi Amega
-- of a lack of neutrality. Mohamed Sahnoun has been
sent to the DRC to discuss new conditions for the mission
set out by President Laurent-Desire Kabila. His arrival
is believed to be imminent, but could be delayed by
an upsurge of fighting in Congo-Brazzaville, regional
sources say. In a letter received from Kinshasa last
Wednesday, the DRC demanded the investigation team
stop its work until it is joined by an OAU mission.
The French radio RFI also reported the letter called
for the removal of Ameda because, according to the
radio report, the Togolese government had good relations
with the former Zairean president Mobuto Sese Seko.
Kinshasa has also been reported as saying it cannot
guarantee security in eastern DRC and has accused the
investigating team of meeting opposition leaders. UN
spokesman Fred Eckhard said the new conditions were
"inconsistent" with the understanding reached
between the Secretary-General and Kabila on the mission's
terms of reference. AFP reported the current UN Security
Council President Sir John Weston as saying that "in
the light of the somewhat confusing signals that have
emerged, we will have to see what Mr Sahnoun comes
back with".

DRC - Rights group concerned over arrests

A coalition of human rights groups expressed concern
over the "wave of arrests" of former top
officials of the Zairean regime, currently numbering
37, who it said were being held in "deplorable
and inhumane" conditions. In a separate statement
last week the main DRC human rights organisation --
Association for the Defence of Human Rights (AZADHO)
-- criticised the "deteriorating" human rights
situation in the country which it said was characterised
by "growing terror". It also reported one
student was killed and 15 others injured when troops
opened fire on a student demonstration in Kinshasa
last Tuesday.

DRC - New rebel movement

A new Great Lakes rebel movement called "Alliance
pour La Resistance democratique" (Democratic Resistance
Alliance) has reportedly been formed in Tanzania with
its political headquarters in Dar es Salaam and military
headquarters in Kigoma. The movement groups opposition
forces from the DRC, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, according
to the DRC paper 'La Reference Plus'. Local sources
in Goma say it is largely made up of Simba and Bembe
peoples. Celestin Anzaluni Bembe, one of its leaders,
is a politician from the Fizi area and was the 'first
vice-president" in Mobutu's last government and
allegedly is well-known for his anti-Tutsi sentiments.
Another leader is reportedly Leonard Nyangoma, head
of Burundi's rebel National Council for the Defence
of Democracy (CNDD).

CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE - Lissouba resumes air raids

Forces loyal to Congolese President Pascal Lissouba
on Monday resumed air raids against his main foe's
militia in the capital Brazzaville, AFP reported an
independent source reached from Kinshasa as saying.
For the second time inside a week, Russian-built MI-24
helicopters fired rockets against parts of northern
Brazzaville held by the "Cobra" militiamen
of ex-military ruler Denis Sassou Nguesso. The fighting
followed the expiry of Lissouba's original presidential
mandate on Sunday. The source contacted by AFP said
two helicopters went into action early Monday, following
heavy artillery fire which was heard overnight in Kinshasa,
across the Congo River from Brazzaville, and continued
into the morning.

Sassou Nguesso's United Democratic Forces (FDU) called
in a radio broadcast for "an extension of resistance
against tyranny" after the retired general dismissed
an extension of Lissouba's mandate as illegal. A military
source close to Sassou Nguesso said that last week's
air raids -- the first since hostilities broke out
on June 5 -- caused serious material damage in the
eastern Mpila region and around the Nabemba headquarters
of oil company Elf-Congo, but led to little loss of
life.

The fighting erupted despite an agreement reached over
the weekend by 39 parties, associations and political
groups on a power-sharing accord and amid growing concern
the conflict could spill over into the DRC. AFP reported
the parties, backing Lissouba, signed the deal, but
the FDU did not. Last week, DRC state television warned
the Brazzaville civil war "could very well spread
to Kinshasa" after five shells landed in the DRC
capital within minutes of each other. The report, monitored
by the BBC, said no-one died in the incident, but said
there were some injuries. "It would seem it is
being done to provoke a reaction from the DRC,"
the television report stated.

RWANDA - UN report condemns extra-judicial slayings

The United Nations has condemned the killing of 109
prisoners in the past 18 months as "extra-judicial
executions", AFP reported a UN human rights mission
to the country as saying. According to the report,
obtained by the French news agency, 109 people were
killed in 62 different incidents. The UN mission accused
Tutis-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Army of responsibility
for 79 of the deaths, and attributed the rest to local
and national police or prison guards. AFP also reported
that the first-ever Bar Association had been created
in the country to help reconciliation by allowing those
accused of genocide to be defended in court. At a ceremony
in the National Assembly building, 44 advocates elected
a nine-person council for the association and a chairman,
Frederic Mutagwera. Meanwhile, the Rwandan government
has played down suggestions that it received US military
aid during an offensive in neighbouring Zaire to oust
the regime of President Mobutu Sese Seko.

Claude Dusaidi, adviser to Rwandan vice-president and
defence minister Paul Kagame, said he was unaware of
a Pentagon report on US military aid to his regime
and therefore did not want to comment. The French daily
Le Monde claimed last week US military experts provided
the Rwandan army with guerrilla and counter-insurgency
training. The report was allegedly based on a Pentagon
document obtained by the newspaper. The report for
the US Congress details such aid going back to 1993,
but offered no evidence of a link between such military
aid and the rebels led by Laurent Kabila.

SUDAN - Mandela reports progress

South African President Nelson Mandela said progress
was made in weekend talks he hosted in South Africa
between Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Sudanese
counterpart President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on normalising
relations. "I am happy to say we have made some
progress in these discussions," Reuters reported
Mandela as telling reporters after Sunday's talks.
AFP reported Sudan's Minister for Federal Affairs,
Ali Mohamed Al-Hagg, as saying his country wanted peaceful
relations with its neighbours to be able to concentrate
on economic development. "We want peace with
everybody. Our priority is the reconstruction of the
country," AFP quoted the minister as saying.

SUDAN - Garang says war goes on

Sudan's rebel leader John Garang also held talks with
Mandela, but declined to stay on and meet the Sudanese
president. Instead, he vowed his army would continue
its war against the Sudanese army. "We are preparing
ourselves to defend our gains as well as to extend
them," Reuters reported Garang as telling a news
conference before leaving South Africa last Friday.
Meanwhile, Garang's rebel movement, the Sudan People's
Liberation Army (SPLA) said on Friday it had seized
control of three districts in the Nuba mountains. A
report by AFP from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa
said Garang's rebel had taken Krakaria, Andolo and
El Rujeci.

ANGOLA - UNITA says it will comply with UN demands

Angola's former rebel movement UNITA said it would fulfil
U.N. Security Council demands to avert new sanctions,
but Reuters reported officials close to the peace process
saying they doubted UNITA's will to comply. "What
can we do? We have no choice but to comply with the
Security Council's wishes," General Horacio Junjuvili,
UNITA's assistant representative in the peace process,
was quoted as saying. The Security Council announced
a package of sanctions due to come into effect on September
30 unless Secretary-General Kofi Annan is able to confirm
UNITA has taken "concrete and irreversible steps"
to fulfil its obligations. Angolan government radio,
monitored by the BBC, said Angolan President Jose Eduardo
dos Santos his government was still committed to the
peace process and reiterated the door "was still
open for dialogue with UNITA".

Nairobi, 1 September 1997, 15:55 GMT

[ENDS]

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